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14th Amendment Clause that states must give everyone "equal protection of the law"

suspect classfication

categorization of a particular group that will be strictly scrutinized by the courts to see whether its use is unconstitutional

Reconstruction

a period after Civil War when the federal miiltary still occupied southern states. During this period, blacks exercised their right to vote, Congress established a Freedmen's Bureau

grandfather clause

a law that exempted men from voting restrictions if their fathers and grandfathers had voted before the Civil War

white primary

a nomination election held by the Democratic Party that excluded nonwhites from partcipation

Jim Crow Laws

state laws that segregated the races from each other.

Civil Rights Case (1883)

The court delcared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, which abolished segregation in restaurants, train stations and other public places. But the Supreme Court ruled that the equal protection clause only guaranteed equal government policies, not equal treatment by private individuals and businesses ( a position called the state action doctrine) Congress had no constitutional authority to tell restuarant owners and railroads who could use their property

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

developed the separate but equal doctrine, the principe that segregated facilities passed constitutional muster as long as they were equivalent. Plessy had challenged Louisiana's law requiring racial segregation in buses and etc. Plessy argued that his inability to use white facilities denied him equal protection before the law.

Smith v. Allwright (1944)

Court outlawed the white primary, saying parties were not private organizations but intergal parts of a state electoral system. After this decision, black voting in the South gradually increased

restrictive housing covenant

a home buyer would sign a contract promising not to sell the property to a black household later

Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)

states could not treat such private agreements (covenant) as legally binding without violating the equal protection clause

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

Brown had filed suit arguing that his daughter Linda's all black school denied her equal protection of the law. The fact that Topeka funded white and black education equivalently made no difference, NASSCP lawyers argued; separation was inherently unequal. Declared racial segregation in schools unconstitutional

civil disobedience

a peaceful violation of a law, designed to dramatize that law's injustice ex. Rosa Parks refusal of giving up her seat

Civil Rights Act of 1964

to memorialize Kennedy, the act banned segregation in all places of public accommodation, prohibited the use of federal money to support segregated programs, and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to guard against employment discrimination

Voting Rights Act of 1965

guaranteed African Americans equal access to the polls and nor coincidentally, ensured that more black voters would be able to turn out for Democratic candidates in the future.

affirmative action policies

programs designed to enhance opporunties for race or gender based minorities by giving them special consideration in recruitment or promotion decisions

de jure segregation

segregation that is legally sanctioned

de facto segregation

segregation that occurs are the result of private decisions

Miliken v. Bradley (1974)

chief justice wrote that the Constitution forbids discriminatory policy but "does not require any particular racial balance"

quoatas

specific numbers of positions reserved for members of disadvantaged groups

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)

allowed race to play a role in university admissions decisions, with minority applicants favored over others, but forbade unseemly quoata systems

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

a failed amendment that would have banned gender discrimination

Rostker v. Goldberg (1981)

Supreme Court accepted gender distinctions within the military ; however public opinion has shift and women have taken on greater roles, official military policy continued to prohibit women from taking direct combat positions

Ward's Cove Packing Co. V. Antonio

argued that the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act gave claimants the burden of proof- supreme court allowed businesses some latitude when they do not recruit and retain women, as long as "business necessity" explains their imblanced personnel practices. Women's organizations opposed the ruling, because it is hard for plaintiffs to characterize conclusively what a business needs.

Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986)

before Supreme Court did not rule on the meaning of sexual harassment; Vinson said that sexually abusive language used in her presence had left her pychologically damaged, Rehnquist decided in Vinson's favor, but he wrote a narrow opinion implying that harassment woudl be considered illegal only if it caused real harm

Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993)

expanded its definitions of sexual harassment, Harris worked at Forklift, employer called her
"dumbass woman" and other derogatory terms, she sued, although she could not show serious psychological damage, O'Connor wrote that Title VIi of the Civil Rights Act "comes into place before harassing conduct leads to a nervous breakdown"

United States v. Virginia

court ruled that women must be admitted to Virgina Military Institute even though the state had recently established a separate military training program for women